Who gets the Promotion?

The appraisal cycles is getting closer . The appraiser as well as apprise have the common questions to answer - who will eventually get the promotion? Year on year , the appraiser ends up rating his group of people in the similar manner. It does not matter what kind of performance indicators are formed in the beginning of year, the potential leaders remain the same . Entire year the appraiser spends time motivating people towards doing specific tasks or goals but when he finally decides in entirety , the parameters becomes different . Even the apprise ponders , what should be done significantly to come under his radar - " I was part of key initiative, got involved into a highly visible project, put on those extra hours in solving problems , all task were done on time ...still it doesn't guarantee me the promotion."

More often than not, skills and efforts counts lesser and It's the overall attitude of person, which matter the most in final promotional decision . There could be different results with multi rater system but the person who supervises the individual focuses on the attitude and attitude only. Attitude drives behavior, action, accomplishment and eventually the success. Considering the many cases where some people have been consistently rated some individuals higher than the rest and hence taken the elevation decision, the criteria s are mostly revolving around six factors,

1. Forward Looker: Mostly the person with better rating is a forward thinker and has a typical attitude of ignoring the negatives and finding positive out of nothing. His ability to create opportunity all the time wins the heart of appraiser. This guy is bubbling with energy and always in hunt or look out for newer challenges and doesn't mind taking intelligent risk.

2. Inspiring: Their action is mostly driven by long term goals and in whatever capacity they work - be it small team lead or project lead or unit lead, they aspire and inspire the surrounding to look further. They also attract the others towards themselves automatically because of their magnetic personality. You can find them always surrounded with people and being the center of gravitation pull. Their acts are infectious.

3. Humble and flexible: Invariably, these guys are humble with a question mark hanging on their faces - doesn't mind asking questions, pleading help, accepting fault, always ready to listen and correct, take up any part of the job no matter how menial that is. Ultimately, a boss is impressed mostly not by the labour you have put in routine but how flexible you had been in trying new things and fixing the complex matter . The highly rated guys are willing, even eager to change, respond to new circumstances and new challenges with excitement, not hesitation.

4. Unselfish: Another important aspect is unselfishness . Most of the people believes that by showing of their muscles, the credibility will be easily proven. Whereas in reality, it doesn't matter to the appraiser. A appraiser always get psyched by those on whom he is overly dependent and carries a risk. He would love those unselfish people who spend their time in training others, creating a open culture , sharing others problems . They like the midfielders who take the ball from defenders and give it to the finishers. Most of the successful captains in the team games are the midfielders and offices are like the team games. Empathy, kindness, compassion are the hallmark of those who know how to get the work done. The super achievers don't hoard knowledge but spread it without a glitch.

5. Crisis Manager: One of key ability which comes to appraisers notice easily is the deftness to handle the difficult situations. The work horses may be sweating day and night but the champions flourishes when the going is tough. All of the fast movers have special ability in delivery and execution. The PDCA works in their mind all the time and they know what works in which situation and drives to clear of storms.Success starts with strategy but ultimately ends with execution.Employees who goes higher are certainly good at planning, but they are great at execution.

6. Pro-activeness: Finally, the best aspect in all those whom a appraiser finds as future leader is pro-activeness. They out think their bosses and are ready even before they are asked to. They naturally take the responsibility before it is delegated. The reason is they don't think about reward in first go - "just do it" - is the motto all the time.

That's how I have been making my promotional decisions and may be most of my bosses have done to me and my other colleagues.